JUDGMENT

Poonam A. Bamba, J. Vide this appeal, the appellant is assailing the judgment dated 09.01.2019 (`impugned judgment' in short) passed by Ld. ASJ, Special Fast Track Court, North-West District, Rohini Courts, Delhi, whereby the appellant was convicted for the offence punishable under Section 302/34 and 376-D Indian Penal Code, 1860 (`IPC' in short), in Sessions Case No. 52825/2016, in FIR no. 1021/2015, Police Station Aman Vihar; and order on sentence dated 10.01.2019, whereby the appellant was sentenced to undergo life imprisonment under Section 302/34 IPC with fine of Rs.5,000/-, in default to undergo simple imprisonment for one year; he was further sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 20 years under Section 376-D IPC with fine of Rs.5,000/-, in default to undergo simple imprisonment for one year. Both the sentences were to run concurrently.

2. Briefly stating, case of the prosecution is, that on 21.08.2015, at about 8.03 am, one call regarding murder of one girl near House no. B-329, Bhagya Vihar, near Kali Mata Mandir, Delhi was received by PW-20 HC Seema Dhaka and the same was got recorded as DD no. 12B Ex. PW20/A by her through Ct. Pawan. The said information was passed on to Police Post Prem Nagar via telephone which was recorded as DD no. 12PP/Ex. PW8/A; and the same was assigned to PW-25 SI P.L. Meena. On which, PW-25 along with PW-7 Ct. Abhay and PW-13 Ct. Hawa Singh reached the spot i.e. empty plot in front of Puja Properties, near Kali Mata Mandir, Bhagya Vihar, Rani Khera, Delhi, where dead body of one girl aged about 23 years having injury marks on her neck was found lying in nude condition. One blue colour jeans on which one light orange colour panty in wrapped condition was found lying some distance away from the deceased's feet; one pair of slippers of cream and black colour were also lying at the entry of said plot. About 2-3 plots away, in another empty plot near the said plot (where the dead body was found lying) one ladies purse of red colour, some documents, cosmetic material, metro card and other things including one red colour thread and broken Taabij were also found scattered and one PNB ATM card no. 5126520230162625 and one broken Nokia mobile phone of black colour model 1616/2 without SIM card was found lying near the drain adjacent to the said plot. All the said articles (except Taabij and red colour thread) were duly identified by PW-2/complainant as that of his deceased daughter. Meanwhile, PW-26 Ins. Rakesh Kumar also reached the spot. Crime team also reached and inspected the scene of crime and furnished report Ex. PW-16/A prepared by PW-16 ASI Ram Kumar. Complainant/PW-2 Alok Kumar Bhui (father of the deceased) was also present at the spot, whose statement was recorded by PW-25 SI P.L. Meena, who then prepared rukka Ex. PW-25/A and got the FIR Ex. PW-20/B registered through Ct. Abhay/PW 7. After registration of the FIR, further investigation was marked to PW-26 Ins. Rakesh Kumar, who lifted the exhibits from the spot and seized the same vide Seizure Memos Ex. PW-2/A to Ex. PW-2/C and sealed the same with the seal of RK.

2.1. On 22.08.2015, IO/PW-26 Inspector Rakesh Kumar got the post-mortem of the dead body conducted vide postmortem report Ex. PW-1/A through PW-1 Dr. Manoj Dhingra. After postmortem, the dead body was handed over to her relative vide handing over memo Ex. PW-2/A. PW-1 Dr. Manoj Dhingra, who conducted the postmortem, opined the cause of death as `asphyxia as a result of ante-mortem strangulation'. After postmortem, PW-1 handed over sealed exhibits of the deceased to PW-26, Inspector Rakesh Kumar who seized the same vide Seizure Memo Ex. PW-13/A.

2.2. It is on 22.08.2015, at about 6.40 pm, after receipt of a secret information regarding apprehension of the appellant/accused and JCL S @ G (who had disclosed their involvement in the present case) by one ASI Anil (special staff), PW-26 Ins. Rakesh Kumar along with PW-25 SI P.L. Meena and PW-13 Ct. Hawa Si